We met through a mutual friend in 2015 and have been inseparable ever since. We have been married for five years. Jake is a coal miner and has worked at the same company for 19 years. In the last couple of years, Alison counsels part-time from home and is able to create her own schedule. We enjoy laughing a lot and being silly. We believe that no matter what happens in the day, we should always look at the positive and find the silver lining. We try to be active when we get home by walking around our neighborhood and exercising. We value eating together as a family as much as possible and talking about our day. When we have downtime, we enjoy gardening, going to flea markets, and trying new places to eat. We enjoy traveling and take a vacation at least once a year, typically with family and friends. Our goal is to have good memories and experiences with positive people in our lives.

Our extended family is very important to us. We both grew up as only children. However, when Jake was in his early teens, he gained a stepmother and two step-siblings. Unfortunately, his father passed away in 2021. He was also very close to his aunts, uncles, and cousins growing up and continues to maintain these relationships to this day. We have nieces and nephews from his side of the family. We try to visit them and bring our nieces and nephews down to spend the weekends with us as much as possible.

Ten years ago, Alison found out she has one paternal brother and three nephews. We see each other about three times a year for family vacations and reunions and connect on the phone as well.

Both Alison’s parents, Jake’s mom, and multiple other family members live close by, and we feel very fortunate to have them so close to us. We are lucky as we have great relationships with our families and each other’s families as well. We spend Memorial Day weekend with Jacob’s extended family and Labor Day weekend with Alison’s extended family.

We recently built our new home based on our dream of growing our family. Our neighborhood is very friendly, with a mix of young and retired families. We have a community sports park across the street. We have approximately 11 parks in our town and attend various activities throughout the year. We are close enough to downtown that we can participate in all the local events but far enough away that we get the comfort of living in a quiet neighborhood. Our school district is one of the top in our state. One of the reasons we moved to this town is because of the diversity and inclusion it promotes. We have three cats, Loki, Quill, and Nebula (Nebi), who bring so much joy and laughter to our lives.

We knew adopting was going to be part of our life plan. We have always discussed having children and adoption being part of our life. We have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility, but we know we want to expand our family. We’ve always believed family doesn’t have to be blood related. Alison grew up surrounded by others who have been adopted (her brother, cousin, neighbors, and kids she went to school with), and Jake has just reconnected with an aunt who was adopted at birth.